Problems catching my mare

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annt

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Has anyone got any tips on catching a stubborn mare? She seems very clever...she will let me close to stroke her forehead and nose but I darent move my hand around to the side or she turns and shows me her back end!! I could restrict her pasture to make it a smaller paddock to chase her around but I dong think it will help as she doesn't run away so to speak just turns her bum towards me! I've never given in and walked off so she knows she won't win but today took me 2 hours to outfox her!!!! She gets better but will go back to being difficult depending on her mood!! I take her companion out of the field but doesn't help as she comes to gate to be near but will still turn her bum when I try and approach her side. If I'm in front she will stand...it's so testing and time consuming when light is such an issue at this time of year. I've never got angry with her in the six months I've owned her but just wanted to see what all your experiences are to see if I can do anything different!! Xx
 
Has she got a head collar on? If not she needs to wear one all the time. Then it's a question of practice makes perfect. Incredibly boring but lots of not catching her but being able to hold the head collar and let her go. I use a deepish tub trug with some food in the bottom and repeat many times a day to condition them that you = food not work. Not sure what I would do if I got one that wasn't greedy. Gun maybe ;)
 
FfionWinnie said:
Has she got a head collar on? If not she needs to wear one all the time. Then it's a question of practice makes perfect. Incredibly boring but lots of not catching her but being able to hold the head collar and let her go. I use a deepish tub trug with some food in the bottom and repeat many times a day to condition them that you = food not work. Not sure what I would do if I got one that wasn't greedy. Gun maybe ;)
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I tend to try the above method first (not the gun!!) with any that have been tricky to catch, the fact that she turns her bum to you means she is in control, she is intimidating you and she knows it so she would be one I would use the send away method on, restrict the area and when she turns her bum send her away forcefully, keep her moving until she drops her head and thinks about what is going on and turns her head towards you and starts to come in, she should allow you to walk up and catch her, I think if you took this route she would quickly give in and be easy to catch once she has learnt that you are not scared of her, at the moment she knows that turning her bum into you makes you back off, I know you say you don't give in but your body language will be obvious to her and she is only allowing you to catch her on her terms not yours, two hours is a ridiculous waste of your time and energy, if you cannot do this yourself get some help.
 
be positive said:
I tend to try the above method first (not the gun!!) with any that have been tricky to catch, the fact that she turns her bum to you means she is in control, she is intimidating you and she knows it so she would be one I would use the send away method on, restrict the area and when she turns her bum send her away forcefully, keep her moving until she drops her head and thinks about what is going on and turns her head towards you and starts to come in, she should allow you to walk up and catch her, I think if you took this route she would quickly give in and be easy to catch once she has learnt that you are not scared of her, at the moment she knows that turning her bum into you makes you back off, I know you say you don't give in but your body language will be obvious to her and she is only allowing you to catch her on her terms not yours, two hours is a ridiculous waste of your time and energy, if you cannot do this yourself get some help.
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I did try this with mine during a difficult phase, which used to be my standard with any horse who doesn't want to catch. However, after the first few times of it working after 10-15 minutes of being a nuisance, she then decided one day to do much more than just threaten and took a shot at me, which then turned into very ugly battle. She came in eventually, but it's not a tactic I'll ever try on her again, and I'd say some horses react strongly to feeling like they're being driven around for no good reason.

These days if mare is being mardy and doesn't want to come in, I leave her for 5-10 minutes, and go back again. I also make a point of visiting her in the field for no reason on random occasions to scratch and brush a bit or just say hello, give her some nice food as FfionWinnie says. If the mare is already showing threatening behaviour, I would suggest being her friend, not trying to drive her about, because it can very easily turn nasty and being dive bombed by an angry horse wasn't my best moment.
 
I never had a problem with my mare until she shared a field with a couple of asbo boys she started running rings around... she was then moved in with a slightly older and much quieter mare but mine carried on the 'game' of catch so I tried the send away method above. Thankfully the other mare couldn't be bothered getting involved and i could drive my mare away from me and the other horse. She didn't like this and eventually submitted and turned towards me. Two or three sessions of this and she forgot her game thank goodness!
 
fattylumpkin said:
I did try this with mine during a difficult phase, which used to be my standard with any horse who doesn't want to catch. However, after the first few times of it working after 10-15 minutes of being a nuisance, she then decided one day to do much more than just threaten and took a shot at me, which then turned into very ugly battle. She came in eventually, but it's not a tactic I'll ever try on her again, and I'd say some horses react strongly to feeling like they're being driven around for no good reason.

These days if mare is being mardy and doesn't want to come in, I leave her for 5-10 minutes, and go back again. I also make a point of visiting her in the field for no reason on random occasions to scratch and brush a bit or just say hello, give her some nice food as FfionWinnie says. If the mare is already showing threatening behaviour, I would suggest being her friend, not trying to drive her about, because it can very easily turn nasty and being dive bombed by an angry horse wasn't my best moment.
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I did say I would try the friendly approach first but that this mare is the type I would try sending away if being nice wasn't working because the OP had said she thought it wouldn't work as the mare wasn't already walking off, this is exactly the type that needs to learn turning her bum is not acceptable, obviously you need to know the horse and be able to read their behaviour in order to avoid real conflict or starting something you cannot finish.

There is only one here that has the odd not sure about coming in moment and he gives in after being moved about for just a few minutes, the rest are all easy to catch, most come to call, as they should be.
 
Are you able to quietly drive her into a yard or fenced off shelter area?
Obs if yours is going to jump over anything, then not a good idea, but otherwise worth a try?

I've had my yard set up to drive them in from 3 different paddocks onto the yard, every paddock is interlinked so I can do this from up in the top fields too. This is due to having had a number of unhandled ponies to back/show for a number of yrs in the past.

My current ridden fuzzy had a very bad 'school' report about being caught when I brought her (inc loading, farrier etc too), hence why I got her at knock down stupid price. This was Sept.

For the 1st week or 2 I didn't attempt to catch her in the field, but quietly drove her into yard and into a stable (no probs getting her once in. This used to work for me with the unhandled big natives off the hills yrs ago)
It took a month of doing this before I was able to slip a rope round her neck in a small paddock & now 4 + months down the line, she comes to call at any time, tho I am still careful with popping a rope round neck and then headcollar on, as she doesn't like her nose being touched 1st. This is what bothers her, so we work round this and its not an issue once she is secure.


We've cracked the farrier bit too & she had her 4th pair of fronts last week, now stands as she should do, I'm very glad farrier is a patient man, also that he appreciates the work I do in between of daily handling of feet etc.
I've cracked the loading at home, the return trip is still a work in progress, but its getting there.

OP, worth a try to quietly drive her in?
 
Ahaha glad to see I'm not alone.

Firstly I found my mare's favorite itchy spot - and every time she came in I gave her a itch their. She soon stopped turning her bum to me when I went to put my hand where I itched.

Out in the field I would bring in my dad's horse to encourage her to the gate and just give her a scratch where she likes it. After a while with my other hand I'd just slip the lead rope over her neck and (still scratching) gently put the pressure on. She'd back away but I get hold of her head collar an reassure her before clipping on the lead rope. xx
 
My old boy was quite, erm, unique so this may not work on other horses but it was the only thing that worked for him. He saw the whole thing as a game that he liked to play every so often. The second I 'bit' the game started and he would have great fun. He'd trot round me just out of reach and the second I took a step towards him he'd gallop to the other end of the field, graze, wait for me to get there and start again. I had to completely ignore him or he'd won before we even started. When he was in one of these moods, I'd walk away from him, get a chair and take it into the field with deep bucket with some feed in the bottom and a book. Sit on chair with feed in bucket underneath (bucket needs to be deep enough that the gap between bucket and chair is too small for her to get her head in it) and read book. After 5 minutes, my boy would be there, wanting the feed / attention. I'd carry on reading for 10 minutes until he'd be practically begging to be caught then get up, take chair, bucket and book and walk away. 5 minutes later I'd go back to the gate, rattle the bucket and he'd be there sticking his nose in the headcollar himself!
 
Love all the different methods, my mare can be a bit difficult to catch at times but it's only 2-3 minutes now not hours but I found with her there were certain spots in the field where she was happy to be caught, generally near the shelters, I would gently drive her in that direction and she would go over and wait for me.
She was one that was so bad the noise of the clip on the lead rope was enough to send her into a panic the same with the rattle of a head collar and she still struggles 5yrs later with the noise of a waterproof jacket on a bad day.
 
Thank you so much everyone!! Good tips all round there. I started my sending her away firmly yesterday when she turned her bum, she got a bit of a shock! She was quite affronted and cantered and bucked her way around until about 40 minutes later when she was knackered then she stood there looking really sorry for herself and in a complete mood. I put the rope around her neck slowly and then stroked her ears for a while where she loves it before bringing her in for a rub down and tlc (she was a sweaty mess after 40 mins cardio!). She looked grumpy the whole time but quite submissive!! Then back to the field. Went out today and it took her about 20 minutes to give in. I've found myself an old headcollar I can doctor to make it field safe to help so hopefully I will have a better mare to catch by the end of the week if this carries on. Fingers crossed! Keep the tips coming if you have them though as this may not work!! Xx
 
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